First time playing. How many party members should I make myself?

Zombie, Ghoul .... what's a few Deaders among friends aye?

 

Found that mini chest.

Having trouble with the gnolls tho. Mostly because my tactics dont seem to be working. Im manage to get my rogue behind their leader without activating the dialogue so I know his sneak is working but when the battle starts it seems like they got no problem seeing him. Especially the two that enter from the back room. If the leader doesnt see me those two always do. I want to keep him hidden behind so he can attack when they crowd my dwarf.

Also, my ready vs advancement doesnt seem to be working. I put my dwarf in the doorway with the intention of letting him ready vs advancement and letting the gnolls crowd him but it never goes off when they approach. They just run up and hit him. Is there something im missing?

Also, yeah I know I can just intimidate them but thats no fun and ya dont get any xp either.

Lastly, how do I get in to their attack radius without triggering an Attack of Opportunity? If im sneaking and they cant see me it wont go off right? Otherwise do I just use withdraw to move around attack radius even if im approaching or is 5 foot steep used in that situation?

The only experience ive had with D&d is all the other infinity engine games along with NWN 1+2 so alot of these new aspects are foreign to me.

 

5 foot step is good if you're face to face with a foe and you want to back up and shoot him with a bow without suffering an attack of opportunity.

If the foe doesn't have a reach weapon you can advance up to him and attack him without getting an attack of opportunity.

If you are trying to move through, (in and then out the other side) of his area of influence, (yellow circle) you're going to be depending on your Tumble Skill, if it's high enough he will not get to attack you.

I personally put a few points in tumble each level on all my characters to give them better battlefield movement.

About your rogue staying hidden, after he attacks once he must make a hide check to remain hidden, you can check the die rolls to see what happened, he might just be failing it.

 

I made a party with 3 Sorcerors once. One of them was a conurbation specialist while the other two were Evokers. The game was a massive breeze. About the only problem I had all game was when you started fights surrounded.

I was curious if anyone knew if parties with six or more could complete the convict quests from Verbonoc?

 

Roll history doesnt seem to show spot and listen checks for enemies. I walk right in front of them just fine but once battle starts and I wait for them to go after my dwarf they just see me and attack me all of a sudden even tho they were failing their rolls for a good amount of time before the start of battle.

 

All the way back to when combat first initiated, did your dwarf fail a hide or move silently check?

Sometimes even though your rogue has been exposed he will still have the animation of hiding.

 

You can definitely do them with six. I'm not sure about seven, but eight should be right out.

 

I mean the roll list was blank. No rolls showed up once combat started. And my dwarf is my fighter. The strategy I want to use is to keep my rogue hidden after battle starts untill all the monsters crowd my dwarf fighter then move the rogue in to pincer attack from behind. Until its time to move in I want to skip the rogue's turns but hes always spotted right out and no checks show up in the roll list to explain why.

 

I thought you were trying to sneak before the fight, to start it with a sneak attack from your rogue. Boy did I get it wrong.

Unfortunately TOEE will not allow you to sneak during combat, the closest I have come is to cast improved invisibility on my rogue before combat and then every attack she makes is a sneak attack because she stays unseen even after attacking.

I have not tried to have her provide a flank when invisible, according to DnD she should not be able to when hidden, because a flank occurs when the opponent's focus is on another then you get a bonus to hit. And how would his focus be on someone he doesn't know is there?

 

I generally recommend a well balanced party. With that said my standard party of five usually goes one of two routes; A fighter, cleric, mage and rogue with a sorceress; or, a fighter, cleric, mage,, rogue and an extra fighter. Most of the time I pick up Elmo, a good fighter as an NPC. One of my favorite tricks is for the mage or sorcerers initially to take Martial Weapons expertise in the longbow, particularly if their Elven (+2 on Dexterity) . You can trade out fighters for Paladins, Rangers, and Barbarians, but each requires adjustments in strategy and style. You can trade a cleric for a Druid, but without turning and a loss of healing requires significant adjustments again. Sorceresses are potent at middle levels or higher, but limited in spell access. Picking the right meta-magic feats and spells is very important with them.

 

@posting above: agreed so far. My new party consists also only of 5 ppl with no intention to get help from NPCs. I only mixed a bit with some classes, since it is pretty hard to miss out some spot and I seriously need a bard in any of my games, cause I just love them :>
My last halfling-only game were a party of 6 and I did exceptionally well, so I expect greatness from my current party too. (fighter / paladin(2)-> cleric / rogue(8)-Bard(12) / ranger (2)-> Druid / Mage)
Will see how things turn out, since my last game was 6.1 and a lot of stuff has changed.